Transcript of media conference with Greens MHA for Clark, Vica Bayley and Greens Leader Rosalie Woodruff, Glenorchy Bus Mall, 22 February 2022. Greens candidate Helen Burnet was also present but did not speak.
Vica Bayley
Labor and Liberal politicians have finally accepted what we Greens have been saying for many, many years, and that is that the cost of public transport is becoming increasingly difficult for commuting Tasmanians. We’re announcing today our policy to make public transport truly free, an investment of $28 million every single year, which is all it takes to make public transport across the state, in our metropolitan and in our rural and our regional areas, free for every single Tasmanian commuter.
Last year, Labor and Liberal politicians teamed up to vote against our legislation to do exactly this, make public transport free. It is welcomed that they’ve accepted the fact that the cost of public transport is becoming prohibitive for Tasmanians. But it clearly doesn’t go far enough, l public transport fees and making it for a year alone as a trial or as a interim measure clearly doesn’t go far enough. No one expects the cost of living crisis to end in a year’s time and it’s about time that Tasmania made public transport free for every Tasmanian.
Not only does making public transport free ease the cost of living burden for Tasmanian people, it eases congestion on our roads. It reduces emissions from cars, it makes boarding the buses a lot quicker and smoother, and it’s been shown to reduce antisocial behaviour So the benefits of making public transport free are wide. They will affect many, many Tasmanians. And this is an initiative that we have been getting positive feedback from commuters that they are looking for this election. The
Journalist – Josh Duggan
If the government has put two and two together that reducing the fare does increase patronage, does it make any sense to do half of a good job?
Vica Bayley
This is a half-baked measure from the Liberal government. It’s welcomed that they’ve accepted the fact that Tasmanians are doing it tough and transport costs are one of those issues. But to do it and cut the fares by only half and offer it for only a year is underwhelming by any single measure. The Greens want to make public transport free not only in our metro areas, but in rural and regional areas as well. And this will have a myriad of benefits for not only commuters on public transport themselves, but other road users because it will help to reduce congestion and reduce carbon emissions along the way.
Tasmanian Times
Apart from the trial in Tasmania, is there research that’s been done in other jurisdictions about what the effects of free public transport are?
Vica Bayley
There’s a myriad of research around the world. There’s different jurisdictions that have offered free public transport and the benefits have been shown to not only ease the cost of living pressure on public transport commuters, but we know that it reduces traffic congestion on the road. If you get more people on buses, there’s going to be less people in cars. We know it eases and makes it much faster to board a bus. And that helps to ease some of the anti-social and other behavioural issues that we’ve been experiencing on the public transport network across Tasmania.
This is not the only thing that needs to happen when it comes to public transport. We’ll be making more announcements as this campaign goes forward. But one of the things we know that Tasmanians have been looking for is free public transport so that the benefits are felt across the community, and not only on those public transport users that can travel for free, but other road users as well.
Journalist – unidentified
Surely the cost is not the only deterrent, it’s the reliability of Metro itself.
Vica Bayley
Liberal politicians have ignored the challenges facing Metro for years. They let it slump into a situation where we’ve now had service cuts repeatedly: the bus doesn’t turn up; bus services have been cut and there are challenges. There is a myriad of things that needs to be done to assist Metro get its services back to full commitment.
This is about the cost of living, this is about easing the pressure off public transport users in Tasmania so that they can catch a bus for free. It’ll assist commuters, it’ll assist low income Tasmanians, and it’ll assist those families with students. This has got a myriad of benefits across the board for Tasmanians.
Journalist – unidentified
Are there countries or cities around the world you can point to who have introduced this initiative?
Vica Bayley
This is the measure that has been shown around the world – there are numerous studies that look at this as an initiative, places like San Francisco have engaged in this as a strategy and other Scandinavian countries – been shown to deliver benefits across the board. Not only at a time of cost of living pressure, easing the cost of public transport for commuters, but reducing congestion on the road, assisting with the embarkation of passengers on buses and reducing antisocial behaviour. They are some of the issues that are adding pressure to our network here in Tasmania, adding pressure to the challenge of finding drivers to drive the Metro fleet of buses. So this is a measure that will help people and the system work more efficiently.
Journalist – unidentified
Why not trial it first to see if it increases patronage before introducing it permanently?
Vica Bayley
This was trialled in 2022 during COVID by the Rockliff government and he demonstrated a significant benefit for Tasmanians patronage was up, antisocial behaviour was down less congestion on the roads, you know, it was proven to work. It’s a modest investment of $28 million every year to make this free for every single Tasmania and across the state who’s using public transport and to make it free permanently. This is a commitment the Greens want to take forward into this election.
Labor-Liberal politicians have accepted that cheaper public transport is clearly a desire of the Tasmanian people. That’s why they’ve moved to halve fares. But halving fares only halves the issue, it’s only half of the solution. We want to see public transport genuinely free for all users, because it will deliver benefits not only for those users of the buses, but it’ll help users of the road network as well.
Journalist – Josh Duggan
The AMA says the Liberals candidacy preselection of Dr Julie Sladden undermines their pandemic response. Do you agree with that?
Rosalie Woodruff
Yes, I do. It’s a shocking choice by the Liberals. Premier Rockcliff when he was the Health Minister, he should know more than anyone how important it is to not spread disinformation about how diseases are transmitted. So to have a candidate like this chosen is an appalling sign from Rockliff government.
Journalist – unidentified
He’s saying you know, the Liberals are a broad church, you know, with a variety of viewpoints, is that good enough?
Rosalie Woodruff
No, it’s not. In a democracy or you’d expect people who are standing to want to represent truth, real information, not disinformation. To have candidates in your in your mix, who are spreading false information about disease transmission, is an appalling sign about how the Liberals don’t treat take democracy seriously, and aren’t actually concerned to make the real changes that Tasmanians need.
Journalist – Josh Duggan
There’s been a bit of uproar over a Greens’ statement about Jack Davenport. Was highlighting where he finished in a ballot of potential candidate the right call?
Rosalie Woodruff
Democracy is a beautiful thing. And what we have is a membership in Bass, who voted in a preselection process for candidates and chose Cecily Rosol to be their candidate for Bass and she is an incredible person. She’s embedded in the community with her expertise in nursing as a foster carer. She’s out there talking to Tasmanians in Bass every day about the things they care about. So the Greens are very happy with the person who is representing them in best
Journalist – Josh Duggan
Was it a bit of a low blow say that he finished last year in their candidate ballot?
Rosalie Woodruff
I think the point is that the party membership in Bass had a choice. There was a vote for preselection about who the candidate would be. Cecily Rosol came first. And that is the main point here.
Tasmanian Times
There’s an active and vocal lobby group trying to save in some way the Glenorchy War Memorial Pool and the council is commissioning a report on some options. What is your position as a candidate for and indeed Member for Clark?
Vica Bayley
We’ve met with the group that’s working to save the Glenorchy Pool. And individuals who have got an interest in that. This has been a really important piece of infrastructure for the people of not only Glenorchy, but the northern suburbs and, you know, the outer suburbs of Hobart to the north. It’s got a whole range of benefits for community members be it sport and recreation, health, education in terms of learning to swim.
These kinds of facilities are critically important and it is the Greens’ position that they should be maintained. It is so much easier to maintain and keep this kind of infrastructure than it is to lose it and then somehow try to rebuild it and reposition it. So we’re very supportive of the campaign and the initiative to maintain the pool. We understand there’s a whole range of structural and other challenges, but it shouldn’t be too hard for a government to back in and resource the ongoing maintenance of a pool such as this in the northern suburbs because it is so important for so many people.
Tasmanian Times
The Hobart City Council put out a wish list of issues that it wanted to be considered for attention and funding during the campaign. One of those was community-based sporting facilities. Do you think that the stadium issue and the potential costs are going to suck the life and money out of community sport?
Vica Bayley
The reality is the stadium is going to suck the life out of the ability for government to invest in a whole range of different infrastructure and outcomes for Tasmanian people, not only alternative sporting infrastructure. It’s going to suck the life out of the ability to reinvest in their health, housing, and other critically important initiatives that Tasmanians are crying out for.
It’s very clear that no one in Tasmania believes that stadium can be rebuilt for $715 million, except Premier Rockliff. His acknowledgement of trying to cap the public expenditure. expenditure is an admission of failure when it comes to the funding of this development. It’s really clear that this project should be abandoned. The deal with the AFL should be re-looked at.
Tasmania deserves a football team, make no mistake about that. But the notion of attaching a billion dollar stadium to the price tag of getting the team we already deserve is clearly outrageous. Tasmanians reject it and it will become a millstone around our neck in regards to the investment needs of a whole range of initiatives across the community.
Tasmanian Times
The AFL team confirmed today that they’re going to go ahead with the launch – official launch of the team name, colours, etc. on March the 18th, five days before the election at six locations simultaneously across Tasmania. Given that they could have delayed that by a week, does that smack of interference in the election campaign?
Vica Bayley
We’re fully supportive of AFL teams in Tasmania, both a men’s and women’s team. I don’t think it’s lost on anyone that Premier Rockliff called the election to time it with the announcement and the sort of unveil, the reveal of the team. You know, that process will play out. We’ll have a look at the details of what’s exactly being proposed and see whether it is appropriate in a caretaker context.
